A new law that took effect this month made dogfighting a felony in Mississippi. It’s a good law that the state needed in its efforts to stop the cruel treatment of animals.
The law makes it a felony to sponsor a dog fight, to own a dog used for fighting, and to train or transport it for fighting to bet on a fight.
It also now is a felony to bet on a dog fight, to buy, sell or own dogfighting paraphernalia, and even to be present at a dogfight. Basically, if you do anything to organize, participate in or even watch a dogfight, you are committing a crime.
Sen. Bob Dearing, D-Natchez, led the effort to get the Legislature behind the bill after a 2017 raid of a dogfighting ring in his hometown. He did a good job: the Senate voted 44-7 for the bill and the House backed it 113-1. Under the terms of the new law, a first dogfighting conviction can result in a fine of $1,000 to $5,000 and a prison sentence of one to five years.
Further convictions increase both the fine and the prison time. Penalties for dogfight spectators are less, but can still include a fine and prison.
The state’s challenge now is to enforce the new law and, frankly, put a few participants in jail for a while.
News about dogfighting rings, like the one raided last year in Natchez, are rare — but the activity surely continues in Mississippi.
Frankly, a few more high-profile interruptions of this meanness that pretends to be sport could convince some dogfighters that the risk of the activity isn’t worth the punishment.
